PLYMPTON CASTLE. 249 
were very numerous, and existed from an early period. These works 
were for the most part formed of earth and wood, and consisted of 
banks, mounds, and ditches ; the two first generally formed by 
throwing up the materials obtained by the excavation of the latter. 
The study of these earthworks is very interesting, and, roughly 
speaking, they may be divided into two well-defined classes—those 
upon hills and high ground, the outlines of which follow the natural 
contour of the land and are consequently irregular in form ; and 
those upon low ground with high banks of a definite plan, in which 
the natural form of the ground might as far as possible be made 
useful, but without in consequence sacrificing the intended regular 
form of the enclosure. 
The first of these classes of earthwork may be ascribed to the 
early British tribes, the latter may be set down as the work of their 
successors, the later Kelts, the English, or the Danes. 
I believe that the earthworks at Plympton are the work of one 
of the latter; and we may safely assume that they are post-Roman 
but pre-Norman. Pre-Roman in their present state they certainly 
are not; if the early tribes had selected such a place as their 
camp, the mound and banks are more important and extensive 
than anything they would have thrown up; and the Norman would 
not have raised such a mound as now exists. Further, if the 
Norman had not found a mound ready to his hand, instead of the 
round shell keep, the remains of which we have, he would have 
erected a rectangular keep, as he always did unless he raised his 
new building upon an existing superstructure, to the outlines of 
which it was made to conform. It is now the better opinion, that 
where the mound is found to be the principal part of the defence, 
the work is decidedly of a Teutonic, and not of a Keltic type. 
At the same time it is not at all improbable that we have at 
Plympton the outlines of a Roman camp, and that a Roman fortifi- 
cation of some kind was in existence there. The rectangular form 
of the enclosure is some evidence in support of such a theory. 
The Roman road ran very close to it ; the names of the Ridge Lane, 
Ridgeway, Voss, and Dark Street Lane, clearly show that there has 
been. a continuous habitation of the neighbourhood. But the great 
mound is certainly not Roman, for the preetorium or citadel was 
never placed upon an artificial height.* Still the regular form of 
* The remains of a supposed Roman galley were found at or near Newn- 
ham Park some years since. 
